Quiz of the Year 2012 answers

2012You’ve had a few days now to puzzle over our 2012 Quiz of the Year. Hopefully you’ve managed to correctly answer most of them, but to put you out of your misery here is the full set of answers to all 50 questions.

Let us know how you got on in the comments below.

2012 UCI WorldTour

1. Name the first and last races chronologically on the 2012 WorldTour calendar.

Tour Down Under, Tour of Beijing

2. Which rider finished top of the individual rider rankings?

Joaquim Rodriguez

3. Who were the top-ranked team at the end of the year?

Sky

4. Two riders each won four WorldTour events – name them.

Tom Boonen, Bradley Wiggins

5. Which new race was included on the WorldTour calendar, only to be postponed before it could be held?

Tour of Hangzhou

Spring Classics

Name the following Classic and semi-classic races from their 2012 podium finishers:

6. Simon Gerrans, Fabian Cancellara, Vincenzo Nibali

Milan-San Remo

7. Enrico Gasparotto, Jelle Vanendert, Peter Sagan

Amstel Gold

8. Maxim Iglinsky, Vincenzo Nibali, Enrico Gasparotto

Liege-Bastogne-Liege

9. Tom Boonen, Filippo Pozzato, Alessandro Ballan

Tour of Flanders (Ronde van Vlaanderen)

10. Sep Vanmarcke, Tom Boonen, Juan Antonio Flecha

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

Giro d’Italia

11. What country does overall winner Ryder Hesjedal hail from?

Canada

12. Which sprinter initiated a controversial crash at the end of stage three and later went on to win his maiden Giro stage?

Roberto Ferrari

13. Who, having won his first ever professional race at the 2011 Giro, promptly won his second in this year’s edition?

Paolo Tiralongo

14. Which rider won the queen stage of the race on top of the Passo dello Stelvio, propelling him to a podium finish?

Thomas De Gendt

15. Which was the only individual classification won by an Italian rider, and who won it?

King of the Mountains, won by Matteo Rabottini

Tour de France

16. Bradley Wiggins became the first British rider to win the Tour de France. Which Sky teammate finished as runner-up?

Chris Froome

17. Wiggins won both of the long individual time trials, but who won the opening prologue?

Fabian Cancellara

18. Two 22-year olds won stages at this year’s race. Peter Sagan was one, but who was the other?

Thibaut Pinot

19. Which American rider claimed the white jersey en route to fifth overall?

Tejay van Garderen

20. A statistical oddity: Sky riders finished fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh in the points classification. Who were they?

Mark Cavendish, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome

Vuelta a Espana

21. How many stages did overall champion Alberto Contador win during the race?

One

22. How many stages did Argos-Shimano sprinter John Degenkolb win?

Five

23. Which rider was the surprise early leader for the first two days of the race?

Jonathan Castroviejo

24. Stage 16 to the summit of Cuitu Negru provided a titanic showdown among the GC contenders on some of the toughest slopes the Vuelta has ever seen. But who won the stage?

Dario Cataldo

25. Whose streak of four consecutive King of the Mountains titles was broken by Simon Clarke?

David Moncoutie

The Eternal Seconds

Everyone remembers a winner, but who was the runner-up in each of the following races?

26. Paris-Roubaix

Sebastien Turgot

27. Tour de Suisse

Frank Schleck (anyone remember him?!)

28. Olympic men’s road race

Rigoberto Uran

29. Vuelta a Espana

Alejandro Valverde

30. Road World Championships men’s road race

Edvald Boasson Hagen

Who am I?

Name the rider from the following descriptions. (Clue: each one has been followed by one of the VeloVoices as one of our ‘riders to watch’ in 2012.)

31. I won five stages at the Tour of California before going on to parade a variety of movie-based victory celebrations at the Tour de France.

Peter Sagan

32. My early season form in a new team was blighted – literally – by teething problems, but I finished the year on a high with notable victories in Spain and the Netherlands.

Philippe Gilbert

33. It was a year of #unluck for me. If it wasn’t people crashing into me, I was either breaking my collarbone or taking a tumble at the Olympics. At least I had the consolation of seeing the birth of my second child.

Fabian Cancellara

34. Questions remain over whether I bought one of my past victories, but I did secure some gold this summer to help see me into retirement.

Alexandre Vinokourov

35. It’s been a colourful year for me. I briefly looked pretty in pink during the spring and just missed out twice at the Olympics but ended the year with silver while wearing red, white and blue. Maybe next year I might get the opportunity to sample gold?

Taylor Phinney

Oddities

36. Only one of this year’s three Grand Tours started in its ‘home’ country. Which one?

The Vuelta a Espana. The Giro d’Italia started in Denmark, the Tour de France in Belgium.

37. In ten stages over two editions of the Tour of Beijing, Tony Martin has held the red race leader’s jersey for all but one day. Who is the only other rider to have led the GC in this race?

Elia Viviani

38. Of the 28 individual WorldTour events, only one featured a final podium of riders who are all from the same country. Which race and which nationality?

Vuelta a Espana, Spanish

39. We all know cycling is a team sport, but which rider was individually responsible for scoring 60% of his team’s WorldTour points in 2012?

Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi)

40. A pair of German riders won back-to-back rainbow jerseys in the elite individual time trial events at the Road World Championships. Name them.

Tony Martin, Judith Arndt

VeloVoices Awards

The following questions all relate to nominees in our recent VeloVoices Awards.

41. Which normally mild-mannered rider lost his cool and attempted to storm the Argos-Shimano team bus at the Tour de Framce?

Tyler Farrar

42. What is the name of the CEO of the US Anti-Doping Agency, whose ‘reasoned decision’ brought about the downfall of Lance Armstrong?

Travis Tygart

43. Who produced a thrilling victory at the Tour of Turkey, holding off the peloton despite dropping his chain inside the final kilometre?

Iljo Keisse

44. What is the name of the FDJ directeur sportif who provided one of the most exciting sights of this year’s Tour as he shouted his support for Thibaut Pinot all the way along the final kilometre en route to a memorable stage victory?

Marc Madiot

45. Which 2011 Grand Tour champion finished a lowly 30th and 67th in his two Grand Tour participations in 2012?

Juan Jose Cobo

Tour de France 2013

Next year marks the 100th edition of the Tour de France and includes several notable features. How much do you know about next year’s parcours?

46. On which island will the race start?

Corsica

47. The race features the return of the team time trial. In what year was a TTT last held at the Tour?

2011

48. The Bastille Day stage finishes atop the summit of which legendary Tour climb?

Mont Ventoux

49. Which mountain is being climbed twice on the same day for the first time in Tour history?

Alpe d’Huez

50. Which stage is scheduled for a spectacular night-time finish?

The final stage (21) into Paris

How did you do?

Award one point for each correct answer – maximum possible score 50.

0-15: Neo-pro. Showing promise but many lessons to learn before you can mix it with the big boys.

15-30: Domestique. Showing your value but currently lacking the ability to break into the top tier. Now go and fetch me a new bidon, will you?

31-40: Team leader. An established contender who always puts in a strong performance.

41-50: Grand Tour winner. The best of the best. Now where’s that latest endorsement contract?